USD gained slightly upon manufacturing data; Australia’s Q1 GDP shows its economy booming to pre-pandemic level  

DXY Index is trading slightly upward at 89.935, up about 0.13% since opening. This is because US manufacturing data delivered positive outlook. On Tuesday, ISM’s report showed that its index of national factory activity increased to 61.2 in May from 60.7 in April. Employment will be the next key data to release. Currently, the market expects 653k jobs added and 5.9% unemployment rate.

Australia’s economy extended its recovery speed in Q1 as consumer and business spending quickly picked up. Data from Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that, economy expanded by 1.8% in Q1 on a YoY basis. This has exceeded the expectation at 1.5%. On average, most major economies have significantly shrunk post-pandemic. For example, the UK is 9% smaller, EU is 5% smaller and the US is 1% smaller. Australia, however, has recovered to its pre-pandemic level, according to Michael Smedes, head of national accounts at the Australian Bureau of Statistics